Authors: Mica Borgueta as J. P. Morgan, Danielle Gagnon as Alice Paul, Alex Krutt as HW Taft, Shrineal Patelle as Booker T. Washington, Val Svystun as Jane Addams, Natalia Zagula as Francis Willard

U.S. History Period 8 Progressivism Skit, February 2010

[Setting: A dinner party at J.P. Morgan's mansion]

J.P. Morgan: Welcome guests to my 12th annual dinner party. Please...enjoy yourselves and eat at your hearts content. But first, I'd like to introduce all of you to
my special guests for the night (Francis Willard, Alice Paul, William Taft, Jane Addams, and Booker T. Washington). Thank you and enjoy.

Authors: Mica Borgueta as J. P. Morgan, Danielle Gagnon as Alice Paul, Alex Krutt as HW Taft, Shrineal Patelle as Booker T. Washington, Val Svystun as Jane Addams, Natalia Zagula as Francis Willard

U.S. History Period 8 Progressivism Skit, February 2010

[Setting: A dinner party at J.P. Morgan's mansion]

J.P. Morgan: Welcome guests to my 12th annual dinner party. Please...enjoy yourselves and eat at your hearts content. But first, I'd like to introduce all of you to
my special guests for the night (Francis Willard, Alice Paul, William Taft, Jane Addams, and Booker T. Washington). Thank you and enjoy.
-----characters sit down for dinner--

J.P. Morgan: Please bring out the wine.

Francis Willard: Wine?! Are you seriously going to tempt these people with the sin of alcohol?! Do you not know what alcohol does to the minds of men? It ruins them! Men work for long hours, then go and drink , come back home only to hurt us women, "the weaker sex", and making the family poor! It makes men silly, drunk, and dangerous! I dedicate almost all my energy as president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union trying to prohibit this devil's drink and here you are trying to send us all to hell! I am completely offended, Mr. Morgan. You invite me because of my fame and intellect and you dare to bring out wine. Nothing can possibly be more offensive. Alcohol is one of the most important and deadly issues of America!

J.P. Morgan: My humblest apologies Ms. Willard. I suppose that you won't be drinking any wine for the night.

Alice Paul: Well now that we know your stance on alcohol Ms. Willard, can you tell us more on your standpoint on women's suffrage?

Francis Willard:
My dear, women's suffrage is one of my top reforms the Women’s Christian Temperance Union supports! I am quite active in it too, you know. I, like Susan B. Anthony dedicate my time to both women's rights and temperance. However, I focus more on the abolition of alcohol. As I always say, “Temperance is moderation in the things that are good and total abstinence from the things that are foul.” I see my work in Temperance as the root of reform such women’s suffrage.
Oh! I remember the presidential campaign of John C. Fermont.... I wrote in my entry about my stance. I said [to my sister Mary], "Wouldn't you like to vote as well as Oliver? Don't you and I love the country just as well as he, and doesn't the country need our ballots?" Then she looked scared, but answered, in a minute, " 'Course we do, and 'course we ought, - but don't you go ahead and say so, for then we would be called strong-minded."
If I could vote like the men I would vote socialist. Oh the agony! I do not understand why women do not have the right to vote or the right to be equal to men, Mr. Taft. We are of the human species just as men are.
Not to change this important subject, but I must say that these potatoes are delicious!

Alice Paul: They are indeed! Could someone please pass the gravy?
Also, I do fully agree with you Ms. Willard." When the Quakers were founded one of their principles was equality of the sexes. So I never had any other idea, the principle was always there."That's why so many of us fight for women's rights. It just seems so abnormal to be treated differently than males! My friend Lucy Burns and I are trying to create and pass a constitutional ammendment giving all women the right to vote so hopefully you won't have to worry about that anymore.I also am part of the Pankhurst women group and we follow this motto of "deeds not words" because all the calm ways to bring about this change are never going to work. Petitions and Prayer and Patience. I believe that's all a waste of time honestly. And I've been arrested many times fighting for women's rights and i'm not about to give up until things are equal!

Jane Addams: I completely agree with both of you, but there is another topic I would like to bring up; labor problems. I've really tried to decipher what is the cause of these issues, I've even gotten the interest of members of the Department of Sociology of the University of Chicago. I feel that this is a very important issue and if we could fix it, many people within our society could do better for themselves. Education would really help to solve the problem. It should really start with children, “America's future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what he is taught; hence we must watch what we teach, and how we live.” If we educate them well now, our society could flourish! The education we are providing them with at the moment, is insufficient; it's just not helping! This is why I am a member of the Chicago Board of Education and have founded the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. I am giving my all to better the education of our society!

Francis Willard: I agree, education is very good; especially for women. Women need to be educated. It is for the good of their own mental health and for the health of the nation once women's suffrage is law. In fact, I used to teach Norwest Female College and the women's division of Northwestern University in Chicago. But my stupid fiance and male faculty harassed me and eventually I quit. It was very unpleasant.
Anyway, I also feel that African Americans are not fairly treated. Mr. Booker T. Washington and I toured the South, in fact, not too long ago. Year of 1896, I believe? I thank my parents for opening my eyes about the hidieous nature of African American treatment in addition to my strong anti-alchohol values. (sigh) “Life must seem grevious” for the African Americans down in the South.

Booker T. Washington: Speaking of African Americans, I think that education for African Americans should not only be available, but should be essential. At the Hampton Institute in Virginia, my students would cut down trees, clear land, dig wells, and build buildings. (Do you have any more turkey?) I feel that the way to gain equality was through education. If African-Americans were educated, and worked hard they would reach their goals. As I said in one of my speeches, "While doing this, you can be sure in the future, as in the past, that you and your families will be surrounded by the most patient, faithful, law-abiding, and unresentful people that the world has seen." I found this to be true in my own life and believed. I was a young boy living on a plantation as a slave, ended up in school, then was a teacher, then got a degree from arguably the best college in America, and then went internationally to give speeches, and finally met the President of the United States. All this thanks to my hard work and determination in getting an education.

Taft: (Could you please pass the pepper?) I agree wtih you Mr. Washington. I believe that all citizen's in the United States should use your life as an example. People should seek out education because a democracy cannot truly work unless its citizens are educated. As you all know I am a strict conservative and therefore I believe that we should make the American life into the best that it can be and provide the US citizen's with the highest quality of life. In addition to education, I also strive to tear down the empirical monopolies that don't contribute towards the ideals of conservation. I have moved against monopolies and trusts more than either my predecessor Roosevelt or my successor Wilson. As I said in my message to congress on the sherman act and trusts, "The anti-trust act is the expression of the effort of a freedom-loving people to preserver equality of opportunity. It is the result of the confident determination of such a people to maintain their future growth by preserving uncontrolled an unrestricted the enterprise of the individual, his industry, his ingenuity, his intelligence and his independent courage."

J.P. Morgan: Well in my opinion, ever since the financial crisis of 1893, my intake in stabilizing the U.S. economy is to eliminate these silly competitions between businesses. The panic during 1893 was mainly caused by the competition between railroad rates. Do you all remember how it led to about 75,000 New Yorkers without jobs and thousands more in need of help? Therefore, I believe that if rivals in businesses were to work together and combine their interests into rational systems, then harmful price wars will be prevented. In order to strengthen and stabilize our economy, we must create corporations and combine major companies into publicly owned industry. (take a sip of water) Well enough about business for now. Addams, how is that Hull House of yours coming along?

Jane Addams: I'd say it's going pretty well. The reason why I decided to build the Hull House was due to the recent increase in immigration. I had noticed that many immigrants were having trouble adjusting to our society and not doing too well for themselves. One of my inspirations was the ethnically mixed population around the Halstead Street settlement. I figured the Hull House was a way to bring other similar communities together and to give them opportunities to better their lives. The Hull House offers classes, clubs, social and cultural events, and a day nursery. These clubs and events tie in the different cultural backgrounds of the people living in the Hull House. Why just last week a group of Greeks had performed a Greek drama for us; it was quite entertaining! I'm certain that the Hull House will help improve the lives of many people and really help them do better in society. Mr. Morgan, you must share the recipe for this soup with me later. It is absoloutley delicious.

Booker T. Washington: Enough about immigrants, what about the African Americans?-------> The conditions for the blacks in this country are horrific. I remember when I just a young boy growing up on a plantation I would starve all day and all night. My mother would try to do her best feeding us, but it was too difficult. We would have to work endlessly. The cabin that I lived in didn’t even have a floor, the winter would be freezing cold because there were so many openings within the cabin and the summers would be burning hot! Especially when the fire was used for cooking.Things got a little better after the Civil War, I still had to work real hard, but at least I got an education. While I was in school I was laboring in salt mines. The labor in the salt mines were just as bad as the labor at the plantations.

Taft: Sorry to interrupt you Mr. Washington but I am just dying to know how Mr. Morgan got this extravagant home! I'm sure we'd all like to hear the story behind your corporations and their big successes albeit through questionable methods.

J.P. Morgan: "Money equals business which equals power, all of which come from character and trust." I was fortunate enough to be born in a wealthy family, but the magnitude of my success today comes from hard work and wise decisions. Investing in railroads was just the start for me. By 1900, I have controlled over one-sixth of our nation's railroad industry. It really is a huge development into achieving my goal of reorganizing the railroads into one, controlled system. Then, I have my International Harvester and General Electric Corporations that are going very smoothly. But my biggest accomplishment as you all know, is the formation of United States Steel. I was able to negotiate with Charles Schwab, the president of Carnegie Steel, and bought the firm for $480 million. Money is no problem as you can tell. Comparing it to the businesses of my fellow business titans such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, the success of my U.S. Steel is incomparable since it has become the world's first ever billion dollar corporation. And so here I am, sharing a piece of my successes to you all in this dinner party.

Taft: That's really interesting. And at the same time I heard that you've also been able to contribute to the country politically. Would you care to elaborate on that?

J.P. Morgan: Well if you must know, on several occasions, I have greatly helped the federal government with its finances. One case, if you all remember, was during that dreadful crisis in 1893. Through my many connections, I was able to provide and save the Treasury with $65 million in gold. Another important case was that panic during 1907. Those were tough economic times and I couldn't just sit here and do nothing. In a matter of fifteen minutes, with the help of many of our leading financiers, I was able to prevent the stock market from closing early by raising $25 million. And of course, out of this, I was able to purchase the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company with form er President Roosevelt reassuring me that it would not prompt antitrust action. But no more of talking about boring politics; if everyone is finished with their plates, there is tea waiting for us in the parlor.

(Group: Exit)

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